A Guide on How to Read Between the Lines
by Tobeornotto-Forgetit
Summary: Jane learned the hard way that it was better not to ask. Character Study. Introspective.


**AN: Possible Trigger Warning- Past mentions of abuse/ observations of long term effects of abuse from an outsider.**

 **Introspective. Carlos de Vil character study. Outsiders Perspective.**

* * *

 _ **A Guide on How to Read Between the Lines**_

* * *

Jane liked spending time with Carlos, she really did.

They had been dating, kind of, sort of, at least where it counted, for nearly a month before he'd _actually_ started hanging out with her.

It seemed that in general the boys were pretty protective of their space. They let in Mal, Evie, and Ben (sometimes Doug as well, but Jane didn't count him), and that was it. While the girls' door was almost always open, the boys' was almost always locked.

So when she showed up one afternoon asking if he wanted to go study together in the library, and he had answered the door with bags under his eyes and his hair sticking up in tufts, and told her to just come in, she couldn't help but feel excited. This was a privilege they only granted a few people. That had to mean that Carlos liked her, right?

The truth was, even though they were technically dating, Jane never really knew.

When she'd eventually gathered up the courage to ask him out, he just sort of looked at her strangely before asking, "Why?"

Part of her had wanted to curl up and die on the spot, but he seemed so genuinely confused, his head tilted slightly and eyes curious, that she found herself rambling out an answer. She barely even remembered what she had said.

But after a moment of just staring at her in slight bewilderment, the de Vil boy had just shrugged and said, "Well, okay then."

From there it had been awkward conversations and sweaty palms for nearly a month. He never really invited her to do anything or go anywhere in that first month. But he almost never refused either. She'd invite him along to the library, or for a walk in the gardens, or to go down to the kitchen and make something chocolate (he never once turned down chocolate). Most of the time she would sit with him at lunch and try her best not to feel awkward and terrified (It didn't really work).

She would try to scoot closer to him or intertwine their fingers, and one time she even placed his arm around her shoulder while at a school assembly they'd been forced to attend. But Carlos would often just give her a weird look and either move further away, or just hold himself completely still, not responding to a single touch. She eventually got the hint: Carlos did not care for casual touches.

Or at least, she thought rather moodily, she didn't care for _her_ touches. He seemed fine whenever Jay, Ben, Evie, or even, God Forbid, _Mal_ on the off occasion, would ruffle his hair or place a hand on his shoulder. He seemed relaxed even.

The only solace she took was that he flinched at just about everyone else.

It was a weird middle ground, but she could respect that.

So when he had invited her in that day, it felt like a turning point.

Carlos still didn't like to be touched, and he was still kind of distant, but it felt like an important step forward.

He let her hang out in the room for several hours, just working on homework, reading, and playing video games. It was actually a lot of fun. And peaceful.

After that it happened more and more often. When she'd suggest hanging out, he'd tell her to just come over the boys' room. In fact, he'd even begun inviting her over every so often without her prompting.

And slowly but surely he began to talk about himself more. Always very neutral topics, always rather upbeat. In fact, for a while Jane began to think she had misjudged him. Carlos seemed overall like a very happy person. Always looking around in wonder, always engaging in some sort of passionate discussion about science that she couldn't always follow, and talking softly about his dog and some of the animals he'd seen around campus. He seemed to be having fun. (She felt like a moron after everything had been said and done).

After a while, Carlos became much more comfortable around her.

But it wasn't until about a month later, two months into their relationship that she started to notice things.

He'd gotten much more relaxed around her, and that was clear inside _and_ out. He'd stopped wearing his multiple layers of clothing around her. Eventually he began to just wear a t-shirt and tourney shorts when they hung out in the room. And one day he seemed to totally forget about the half gloves he always wore, and just never bothered to worry about them around her again.

And she'd started to notice.

She noticed the marks on his calves, the thick lines near his knee. She noticed the small, round blemishes that littered the inside of his arms, wrists, and the back of his hands.

Scars.

There were a lot of them. Some so faint it had taken a while for her to truly notice how many there were. But she was patient and she was slow to realize it, but she noticed, and every time he would gesture enthusiastically, or throw his whole body into whatever video game they were playing, she would see them. And she felt like something had just punched her in the stomach.

* * *

It wasn't just the scars though.

Sometimes it was things he said, things that made it feel like a hundred worms were squirming around in her gut, trying to eat her from the inside.

One night, a little over two months into dating him, some of the others had wanted to have a party. Nothing big, just a couple of them hanging out in the common area after hours, with licorice, popcorn, chocolates, and sugary drinks available in front of the huge TV screen. It was mainly just them laughing at little things and passing stories around.

Everyone learned pretty quickly that the Isle four had the best stories.

And the worst.

Sometime between discussing Jay running away and outwitting several of Maleficent's men and how they had all met Evie, Mal let it slip that Cruella was pretty paranoid.

"And then there was Cruella's closet," Mal said. "Damn, that thing was _scary_."

"Oh God," Carlos groaned, leaning back against the front of the couch. "Don't remind me."

"Closet?" Lonnie questioned from where she was curled up on the recliner.

"Yeah," Mal turned to her, giving a grin that Jane could only call wicked. "When we were in middle school, I was over at Carlos's for a school project one day, and I swear we both nearly died."

"Oh come on, don't exaggerate," Audrey said, rolling her eyes.

"You think I'm exaggerating?" Mal demanded, glaring at the dark haired girl. "What does this look like to you?" She rolled up her pant leg, revealing a stark white scar not far above her ankle bone.

Jay whistled lowly.

"How'd that happen?" Ben asked, clearly concerned. Jane thought it was sweet.

And so Mal launched into her story, gesturing as she explained how she and Carolos had been working on a skit in the sixth grade and she'd decided to go poking around Hell Hall. She apparently managed to find Cruella's legendary fur closet. A closet that, as it turned out, was guarded with an entire front closet full of bear traps.

 _Bear. Traps_.

As Mal continued her story, the laughter and smiles slowly fell away.

She described how they'd almost gotten trapped in there, how a few had actually managed to catch the both of them.

"Show them, Carlos," she said.

Carlos just rolled his eyes and shrugged, lifting his pant leg to show the two distinct white marks on his calf.

It was one of the first Jane had noticed. Carlos's socks or jeans usually covered it during the day, but when he was just in his room, it was often visible.

They all just continued to stare, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Was this supposed to be a fun story?

"That closet was terrifying," Carlos said, before pulling his pant leg back down.

"Yeah, and you tried to lock me in there!" Evie accused, staring at the two of them.

Carlos put his hands up. "Hey, that wasn't me."

Mal just rolled her eyes. "You turned out fine, didn't you?"

"Barely," Evie retorted.

Ben was the first one smart enough to realize it was best to change the subject. If they started asking questions, there was no doubt the four of them would be gone quicker than someone could utter "Was it something I said?"

"Weren't you guys friends before coming to the island?" The new king asked.

And that of course launched into an entirely different story.

It was noticeable when they would gloss over details here and there, and Jane couldn't help but wonder: If they were willing to tell them a story as awful as Cruella's closet, what story was too horrible to even fully tell?

She felt ill.

A closet full of bear traps. A woman, living with her son, kept a closet full of _bear traps_ just to protect a bunch of old fur coats.

What sort of person does that?

She kept Carlos in her peripheral vision for the rest of the night, and eventually landed on the answer that she didn't want to know.

But she got a good enough idea anyways.

* * *

And the thing was, Carlos wasn't always subtle.

Nearly three months into dating him, Carlos let something else slip.

They were going over biology, discussing the different stages of cancer and the research that was being done on it.

She had just barely managed to make it into Advanced Placement Bio, so she was struggling with the material, but Carlos seemed to be breezing through it with no problem. So when she'd asked for help, he seemed more than happy to explain it to her.

(And if she used this as an excuse to move closer to him while they laid on their stomachs, splayed out on the bed…well that wasn't anybody else's business but her own.)

"Wow," she said as they finished moving through the first half of the worksheet. "Apparently a lot of things can cause cancer."

"Mhmm," Carlos hummed in reply.

"I wonder why people do some of this stuff then?" She said. "Why not just avoid these things? Like smoking, why do it at all?"

Carlos paused, thinking for a moment. It was unexpected when he finally spoke up, saying, "You know, my mom smoked."

Jane blinked in surprise.

"She does?"

"Yeah," Carlos nodded. "I mean, cigarettes are harder to get on the island, but I think she used to smoke all the time. You know, before."

Jane nodded slowly.

"But she still got them when she could," he continued. "I remembered reading about cigarettes causing lung cancer when I was younger. That they'd cause your teeth to rot, your skin to wrinkle, and your lungs to collapse in on themselves."

Jane stared at him, entranced and wary.

"And I remember wishing that it would happen to her," Carlos said, seeming kind of distant. "Wishing that she'd just shrivel up and die, and I could have Hell Hall to myself. Maybe even burn her entire fur closet."

And looking at the slight snarl that curled at his mouth, she was reminded of something she'd almost forgotten in the last few months. Carlos, and the rest of the kids from the Isle, had their own darkness in them. They could be cruel, and selfish, and often held a warped view of how the world worked.

She couldn't say she blamed him in that moment though, not knowing what she did. But it scared her, nonetheless.

She swallowed thickly before asking, "And… what about now? Do you still feel that way?"

Carlos seemed to stop and think for a moment, and Jane wondered if he'd say no. That his mother couldn't reach him now. He was safe, and that from a distance he could pity her. Forgive her.

Instead he just said frankly, "Yeah. I do."

* * *

It was nearly three and a half months before she finally broke down.

"Sweetheart, what is it?" her mother asked, placing her hands on her shoulders from where she was slumped against the table.

"Hmm," Jane blinked in surprise. "Oh, nothing just… thinking."

Her mother raised a brow. "You seem to be doing a lot of thinking lately."

Jane looked away, unsure of what to say.

Her mother moved to sit next to her. "What's got you so down lately?" she asked gently.

Part of her wanted to say nothing, wanted to just storm off to her room but-

If there was anything dating Carlos de Vil had taught her, it was to appreciate what her mother did for her. Not making her pretty was a lot different than setting up bear traps around the house.

And she wanted to talk to someone about it. Wanted someone to soothe her fears, and tell her what to do.

And she knew she couldn't ask that of Carlos or any of the other Isle children. And she certainly couldn't ask it of Audrey. Lonnie wouldn't get it, and well Ben…

So she turned to her mother, eyes bright, and asked, "Mom… What does it mean when a person has scars?"

Her mother seemed taken aback, but she pressed on quickly. "I mean- a lot of them? Does that- does that mean anything?"

Her mother, headmistress and Fairy Godmother, stared at her in shock for a few moments, but slowly, the expression slipped away to something like realization, and then sorrow.

Tears filled her eyes as she pulled her daughter close, whispering, "Oh Jane."

* * *

It had been four months, almost exactly, that she had been dating Carlos de Vil. It was a nice four months. Nothing miraculous, and no fireworks but…nice.

They were comfortable around each other. Carlos was willing to relax and even invite her out places. Jane had trouble understanding what exactly counted as a date for them, as they were almost never alone, but the excursions were usually fun.

A sort of somberness still lingered though, and she couldn't stop staring at the scars when he wasn't looking. In fact, one day, while he was trying to explain complicated molecular structures, she had simply taken his arm into her lap, and run her fingers across the scars that were littered there.

Carlos had only faltered for a moment before continuing like nothing had happened.

(He didn't move away from her touch anymore.)

But it had been four months, and she'd finally spoken with her mother and gathered her courage.

"Hey, Carlos," she began as he booted up the game console, "can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he commented, plugging in the controllers. But he smiled at her and shrugged. "Fire away."

It took her a moment to find her voice, but finally she asked, "I just- I can't help wondering- Where exactly did you get all those scars?"

Carlos froze, his smile slipping. "What do you mean?" His voice was flat.

Jane rushed to explain, "I just mean- those scars on your arms and the ones on your legs. Where did you get them?"

The de Vil boy faced her fully, expression blank and perfectly controlled. "I got them on the island. Where else?"

She shook her head. "No, I meant- how? What caused them? It's just- I always see them and I always wonder-"

"They're nothing," he cut in. "We just roughhouse a lot on the island and get a little scraped up sometimes. That's all."

"But-"

"Look, Jane," Carlos said, a fake smile plastered across his face. "They're nothing. I promise."

And something about the way her looked, the forced grin, the tension that made him look like a compressed spring, and the slight spark of fear in his eyes, let her know. She shouldn't ask again.

And so she just nodded slowly, and Carlos turned back to the game.

They spent the rest of the evening in tense silence.

After that, not much changed. Carlos was a little stiff around her in the room, and usually had someone else there as well. But he laughed, and they joked and spent time together as always.

But Jane did notice.

After that conversation, Carlos didn't wear short sleeves around her again.

* * *

 **AN: Why was this written? No reason honestly besides the fact that I think exploring the idea of the Isle kid's as essentially recovering victims of abuse and/or neglect really interesting. While each of them have something interesting to explore (emotional manipulation, use of a child labor, verbal abuse, etc.), I do think the effect of Cruella on her son was always the most evident both in the movie and the book. I think there are a lot of layers to an angle like that. This however isn't anything too deep. Just a minor character study from an outsider's perspective, and what it might be like to be in a relationship with a survivor. I purposely chose Jane's viewpoint not for any shipping reasons (you probably noticed that the story portrays the relationship between them as pretty average), but because she provides a much more naïve outlook on the world and can really reflect some of the ignorance that probably goes on in Auradon.**

 **Also I just really adore Carlos, someone please hug him?**

 **I may write more for this fandom, but this was mainly to satisfy a plot bunny. So, there it is! Hope you enjoyed the read.**


End file.
